Ribbons
by xYama-chanx
Summary: Perhaps it was time to move on. It would be a difficult, bumpy road, yes, to forget him. She couldn't, though. That was the obstacle. She loved him so much it killed her inside. It would be a dream if he did come for her.
1. Chapter One: Pink Ribbon

**Hii! Oh my gosh, so Yama-chan is back! You can sue me if you want, because I didn't stick with what I said would be faster updates and special publishing of New Years and Christmas Naruto fanfics! (Well NEW YEAR'S I will be writing :3). I'm so sorry everybodyy - SCHOOL WAS KILLING ME. I HAD, no joke, AT LEAST TWO TESTS EACH WEEK! **

**I'm going to the States on the 31st, wowweeeee excitement, so I've wanted to give all my amazing readers a treat! And zomg, I got a beautiful red _iPod nano_ for Christmas, $80 and a $20 _Chapters_ gift card! :DD What did you get for the holidays?  
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**Seriously, guys...without you, my stories would be garbage XD** _**Each and every one of you**_.  
><strong>So enjoy! Mathematical Love Chapter 13 is on the way, I swear (;<br>**

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><p><span>Ribbons<span>

_"So this is love, mmhmmm, so this is love..."_

_The microphone stand teetered dangerously on the center of the stage, which was soaked in white, red and green contrasts of light. __He caught it, and the audience let out its bated breath. Where they_ really_ expecting him to screw up?_ He wasn't surprised, to say the least.

_"So this is what makes life divine..."_ _Violins muddled in harmony together, and the high school sighed. He smirked a secretive smirk to himself._

_Of course, no one out of their insane mind would believe a guy like him knew how to sing. He knew how to make girls swoon, with hearts and bubbles escaping their mouths as they ogled at him; flipping their hair incessantly._ _He knew how to be classy. He moved with an attractive swag._

_The guys seated in the claustrophobic crowd before him, excluding his friends, secretly wished that the deep, bass-alto voice resonating throughout the gymnasium would be cut off with a strangling sound, but the man to whom the seductive voice belonged to didn't know that.  
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_She sat in the second row, her fingers trembling. A bespectacled diamond ring adorned her right forefinger._ _As he sang - as the music played - her ears_ _burned slowly, like pure honey drizzling across a fiery grill._ _He didn't tell her he was next to perform! _

_And now here she was, knees shaky, and her pale face let a blood red color bolder than her lipstick spread. Unbeknownst to her, the students seated around where she was knew _to whom_ the sparkling song was directed._

_His striking eyes found her in an instant, and the girls' whimpers became high-pitched squeals, cropping up from here and there. The males drooped, depressed, and further wished they had chunks of fries to throw at the performer. _

_His sharp, intense gaze did not leave hers at the moment; her breath caught immediately, and a tingling warmth filled her, from her head to her toes.  
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_"And now I know, the key to all heaven is mine..." As soon as the melody bent upward to accompany his high note on the last word, the place seemed to explode. People started clapping thunderously, and some began to stand._

_But how_ could_ she? How could she not tell him that she was soon disappearing to a faraway place - and no, not the place where human beings couldn't be seen at all?_

_She was moving to a new city, just before the New Year. The date was drawing closer. All this he went through for her, and it all merged into nothingness. It was all for _nothing_!_

_A sob broke out from her body, and her hands clenched into tight, coiled fists. Hot tears, unawares, streamed down her cheeks, and those surrounding her started to notice a drastic change in the mood. They cast pointed glances at the female, her head drooping as hair covered her face like a curtain. She couldn't find it in her heart to _tell him_...that..._

_"I love him," she whispered to her fragile self - whispered soft enough so that the people near her couldn't hear. _And he doesn't know..._!  
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_His eyes widened in shock, sending an unspoken message to her as he frowned. Murmurs swam between the audience, and the song quickly became uninteresting to them. She was their new attraction. They were even on the verge of turning in their seats to face her direction. _

_"What's wrong with her?" "Didn't she say she wasn't feeling well?" "Who is she?"_

_Without warning, she darted out of her seat and ran away, away from him and his song, her luscious hair flowing - bouncing - behind her as she went. Her footsteps echoed, but were blurred by the continuing melody...a melody that now had no voice. _

_He watched her with great turmoil, an itch bursting in his feet, arms and body; a longing to follow her. His vision converged into one standpoint. Now only _she_ existed in his mind, and nothing else. _

_The other half of the audience turned around to face him, their expressions stunned. "Follow her!"_

_"Go GET her!"  
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_"Follow her, man! What are you_ doing_?" His friends motioned to him desperately, egging his longing on. "GO! Are you stupid?" The world froze for a second. A second that felt longer than an actual second.  
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_Like the wind, he was gone. _

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><p>He passed an awestruck audience, and the teachers had no intention of stopping him either. Not even the principal. Hoots of success boomed behind him as he zipped past.<p>

Wow, he thought. But this wasn't something to cheer about. He could feel it, deep down in the pit of his guts.

He could hear her now, just a few feet away from him, running as if a monster was on the loose.

"Wait!" he yelled, his tone very desperate and gritty. Guys did _not_ cry. No way was he about to.

She sped up, her breathing reaching his ears as whimpers. As broken sobs. What had he done to hurt her? _Did_ he hurt her?

"WAIT! Stop!"

She still did not listen to him.

Lockers whizzed past them both as red spots, and she turned into a sharp right hallway, fluorescent lights overhead blinking abnormally.

_Just inches away..._

She was in his full view now, beauty and everything about her fleeing from him. He wasn't going to lose her!

Soon enough, his breathing grew labored as they kept up the running, but he reached out a hand, his fingers softly brushing the skin of her wrist.

She tried, with all her might, to get away from him as soon as she can, but it had turned out she had failed at the attempt.

That touch, which triggered electric bolts among her body, was nearly enough to make her stop abruptly, collapse to the floor, and start crying her eyes out in surrender and guilt and heartbreak in his arms, but a hard bite down on her lower lip gave her enough gain.

The running went on. He cursed, his legs taking the strain easily from his involvement in the school's sports - as one of the most spectacular basketball stars in the school.

He was spectacular, cool and desired, oh yes, but because of her, his head deflated to size. She constantly brought him back to Earth and kept him sane. Without her, he was out of his mind. He was an idiot.

She groaned as she could spot dim cracks of light in the main school hall, where beyond her, the front doors loomed, and could feel her pink ribbon bracelet tied around her wrist slip with every step.

"_No_-" She grimaced as the feel of fabric around her wrist disappeared. He wouldn't stop calling out to her in heartbreaking echoes as well, but she couldn't confront him. Not when she hid the truth from him for so long.

She did not deserve his love.

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><p><em>He saw her ribbon fall off her wrist and bolted forward to grab her hand, which was finally only a mere two inches from his own, when the deafening slams of the doors opening stopped him completely. He cursed and cursed, teeth grinding together as she slipped out of sight, leaving silence in his presence.<em>

_The flow of his blood pounded in his ears like bass drums_, _and he_ _painfully, reluctantly, bent down to pick up her ribbon bracelet. He hated himself for not going after her once more.  
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_Why? Why did she run away from him? Waves of confusion crashed against his mind. He didn't understand. _

_The brilliant pink of the ribbon blinded him as he observed it with downcast eyes, and the pain threatened to blossom into depression._

_He couldn't believe it._ _He could not and would not, but his conscious told him this was real. He loved her so much. And she...and she..._

_He dropped onto his knees in defeat, sinking_ _his head into his hands as low as he could manage and grasped the pink ribbon tight. He grasped it tight until it hurt to hold it._

_Memories of her flashed before his vision like a silent '50's film in black and white. Headaches ensued.  
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_"You suck!"_

_"No, I had the frisbee first!"_

_"Dumb-ass! Here's your ice cream..."_

_"Oh, it's nothing. What? Seriously, I wasn't going to tell you anything!"_

_"Please give it to me! It's mine, or else!"_

_Her laughter sounded as beautiful as chimes. He always easily held her dainty frame in his arms and kissed her over and over. There was no one else in the world who could replace her._

_His eyes, shut tight, were damp; stingy and distracting, but he refused to cry. _

_A faint whisper lurking in the back of his head told him otherwise._

_"Sometimes, honey, we have to let go of the feelings we hold caged inside. It drives you mad," his mother's soothing voice crooned._

_An angry gasp burned in his throat. His anger began to bubble up, soon thrust in with the despair, pain, and confusion. _

_"Sakura..."_

_There was no reply. She was gone. She really was gone. And he hated himself for it.  
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_"Sakura..."_

_"Sakura!"  
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_"SAKURA!"_

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><p>She did not hear from him after that incident.<p>

Sure, there were the wounds inflicted on her heart every time her phone rang every day for the last two weeks besides daily phone times with Ino and Hinata, yet she felt, in pure regret and turmoil, that he missed her. He demanded a reason as to why she left him so suddenly - so soon.

She could hear his yells in her ear already. _The overprotective jerk. _A faint smile lingered upon her lips.

But now, she no longer inhabited the red house on 16th and Tsubaki Street. What was he doing now?

Did he indeed give up on looking for her? Surely he would hear the news from his friends...from Naruto, by now. The ghosts of happiness play-backed in her emerald-green eyes.

A spark of hope lit up within her. He loved her, and she knew this all along, so would he risk his life to follow her all the way to Vancouver? To _Canada_?

Maybe...just maybe...

"No. No way," Sakura muttered, flopping down upon her bright pink mattress, allowing the scents of strawberries and pineapple perfume soak into her nose as she dug her salty, teary face into a pillow, sniffing. Rain fell in noisy pellets over the roof of her house.

Along with those scents, however, came sorrow. He would not bother to fly halfway across the world for her. It simply just wasn't him to do so. And _he_ knew that, as well.

Her pink ribbon bracelet was in his possession too: a last remnant of her that he probably now kept.

Perhaps it was time to move on. It would be a difficult, bumpy road, yes, to forget him. She couldn't, though. That was the obstacle.

She loved him so much it killed her inside. It would be a dream if he _did_ come for her.

"In your dreams, pinkie," she whispered to herself in agony, crying and sniffing uncontrollably until she fell asleep.

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><p><strong>So - how was it? ;)<strong>

**That was depressing, oh my gosh. And please _don't_ ask me why I wrote it XD. I'm sorry for keeping you guys constantly guessing who the girl and boy were. It was_ fun_, though!  
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**Like to guess who the prince charming is? So sadd!** **Heh** **it's ****probably obvious already, but who knows?**

**Don't know if you _want_ me to continue this as well, ne? It was SUPPOSED to be a one-shot, but I guess it just has to do lol. And yes - Vancouver Canada all the way! I don't interact with enough Japanese here, waaah, so you just might get to see me becoming her new best friend, YAY.**

**Love you all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!  
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**-Yama-chan**

**p.s. and oh yeah, right now I am OBSESSED with Disney, which explains the 'So This Is Love' from Cinderella, eep!  
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	2. Chapter Two: Confession

**Thank youu so much everyone for the support :) And let the reviews come flooding in, hehe. Wow. It's 2012! I can't believe it - and yet Naruto is still going on, yyeeessss. I love it like heck. Anyways...yes, I've made my decision. This will now become a new story I can begin working on. So I'll ensure I'll keep all of my readers posted for future chapters! :D **

**Will Sasuke go after Sakura? To be honest, I had NO idea who the characters were supposed to be. It was once a simple boy-girl draft, but it turned into this. Enjoy!  
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><p>Chapter Two:<p>

**Confession  
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_"The fist clenched round my heart loosens a little and I gasp [...] but it tightens again. When have I ever not loved the pain of love?"_

- The Fist_, Derek Walcott_

Two brittle knocks sounded through the chirping of birds...the ironic chirping of birds.

Another knock.

"Ungh." He rolled flat onto his back, clutching the pillow against his damp face as tight as he could. Although the constant hammering in his head refused to go away, he didn't mind the soda bottle on his bed that was digging into his right side. It collided into his Blackberry with a loud clink.

Two more knocks. Drowsiness overcame him until he nearly slipped under.

"Go. Away," he groaned, his voice hoarse and muffled. He rolled onto his side again, restless.

He heard the door open with a creak, and a sudden rattling sound echoed, followed by footsteps entering his own personal dungeon.

_No one_ was supposed to be here without his permission. Even the maids knew that rule, or else choose to die a painful death.

A hand tugged at his sweatpants, and he violently shook it off. He scowled as a foot, this time, connected with his buttock.

"What the_ HELL_, Itachi!" Sasuke rose immediately, black hair standing up in all directions.

"Good morning, little brother." Sasuke's clone glided over to his desk, carefully setting down a fine china teapot and cup before turning to him, a subtle glint in his dark eyes.

"What?" Sasuke snapped, throwing the pillow out of the way, annoyance creeping into his veins. Who _dared_ disturb him, especially if poking into such a dangerous, mad atmosphere such as his?

"It's one in the afternoon and I don't think that's so healthy, Sasu. You better drink tea before I leave."

Sasuke answered with a pointed grunt, and Itachi's soft smile was still glued onto his face. There must have been a deeper purpose behind him flying all the way from New York, as Sasuke sensed.

"I heard about...Haruno...and what happened to you yesterday." Itachi's angled features morphed into concern, and, if he wasn't imagining it, another expression other than concern seemed to lie underneath it.

Sasuke's gaze narrowed, legs spread out in front of him on the black bedspread. "So? Why do I think_ you're_ supposed to care?" His vision dropped to his Blackberry, and he sent the soda bottle falling onto the floor with a single push, the tinny of breaking glass having no effect on the older Uchiha.

"Everyone heard about it. End of story." Sasuke's voice was strained and bitter; to Itachi, his troubled, gloomy face told him more than he needed to know.

"Sakura left, didn't she? Left Japan?"

He didn't reply.

"She moved to Canada. Vancouver, I learned."

"Who told you that?"

"Naruto."

"The_ dobe-"_

"I _asked_ Naruto."

Sasuke sighed, agitated; pained. He fell back onto his mattress again with a plop, arms outstretched.

"She never told you about it, either - that she was leaving."

"Shut up."

"Did you love her-"

"I said SHUT UP!"

"No I won't shut up. Sakura managed to text me before her nine o'clock flight this morning."

Sasuke bore slits into the high-rise platinum ceiling, tweezers picking at his heart. And he felt each and every prick of it to the core.

"She said she was sorry. So, so sorry."

Sasuke said nothing once more. His brain was clouded - shrouding everything else that _didn't _have anything to do with Sakura, hence her text made it into his auditory canals.

"I'll read her text line by line to you. She really wanted this conveyed to you the way she wrote it. She _wanted_ to make sure you read it."

Sasuke lay there silently, unmoving, yet Itachi had no idea about the storm of chaos and depression swirling within his gut.

"Oh, and she was crying over the phone."

He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting against a rising mass of salt and tears. He ached. His heart ached. His whole being ached.

Call it cheesy, but - this was an _abandonment_ he was dealing with, here...a disappearance of the girl he loved.

Why did she leave? He kept on asking himself that miserable question over and over and over until it hurt to merely think about it.

"Please_ delete this after he reads it, Ita-kun!_ _Dear Sasuke..._"

No. Once her radiant face materialized in his mind, he would go insane.

"_I hope you don't get mad I texted this to Itachi and not you._"

A humorless laugh escaped him.

"_I couldn't bear to tell you in person. What would you think of me?_ _You wouldn't know how much it would hurt me if I did. So this is the only way._"

Her blinding green eyes loomed before Sasuke's eyes, and soon enough, it was no longer Itachi's voice reciting the text orally to him, but Sakura herself.

Sakura...

"_I'm leaving. I'm moving halfway across the globe. And of course you know where Canada is. I know I'm making such a big deal out of this, but why aren't you _not_ supposed to know? It's all my fault __I didn't tell you sooner._"

Damn right she didn't. Faint pangs of agony began to stir in his stomach.

"_My parents negotiated about getting a more stable life there. They wanted me to go to a private school and said it was better for our family's future and...for me._"

"They already had a freaking stable life here in Konoha already!"

Itachi paused, yet went on after figuring it was safe to do so.

"_I tried to tell them I couldn't just leave everything and everyone else behind like that: Naruto, Ino, my friends, relatives, my whole life here - there was no way, especially you, Sasuke._"

He grimaced, allowing her words to freely flow. He could handle it. Hopefully.

"_But they're right. I love my parents too. I always want the best for them. And I guess...if it meant leaving Japan, then so be it. Haha, such a fancy life we might get there: Vancouver. Everything is just so - high standard._"

Sasuke let out a low chuckle tinged with sarcasm. "It's already_ high standard_ here." He still could not see the point.

"_But remember I never ever wanted you to even start thinking that I didn't want you anymore. I still do! I love you. I love you so much, Sasuke. And I'm thankful there's somebody in this world that loves me like I am. And I know there will never be somebody who'll love me the way you do._"

"I know_ that_. The question is, then: why did she leave?"

"We don't know the real truth, little brother-"

"Then I'm GOING to find the truth!" Sasuke slid off the bed as quick as it took Itachi to blink in a fraction of a millisecond.

Realization was written in his eyes as the younger Uchiha bounded over to him in a furious determination, snatching the iPhone swiftly from his grasp. He held up the metallic, shiny gadget in front of Itachi, brandishing it violently.

"If _this _is what it takes to see her again - to get her back - then I...", he trailed off, his guard slipping away for a moment. And it was then that Itachi truly glimpsed the little boy within Sasuke, a boy now capable of loving.

Sakura had indeed succeeded in melting what was once his heart of ice. He caged it off, restricted to everyone. He did not trust anyone. And little did he know that this wonderful, bubbly, pink-haired girl had the key to unlock all the emotions he was afraid of controlling.

With her, his foolish little brother was human. Life is genuinely unpredictable.

"You really do love her, do you? Although you two were together for only one and a half golden years." Itachi's tone grew gentle; condescending. Sasuke looked away, pressing a hand to his temple.

He could tell the last whirlwind of days had dropped on Sasuke like two tonne bricks upon his shoulders, dragging him down, and he now had a clear, possible idea of what he wanted to do.

"Yeah. I do love her. I've loved her the minute I met her."

Itachi whistled, taking the iPhone from him unawares. Sasuke was preoccupied with staring at a fragile framed picture of both of them on his desk. Vines adorned with stained glass berries curled around the frame, refracting the sunlight into a million hues of vibrant rainbow colors. His insides lurched.

Sakura was grinning, her eyes a dazzling emerald as she held up a peace sign, while her other arm snaked around Sasuke's side, who did the same. She was beautiful, even more so with the cute lace top she wore that day.

They both stood in front of a deluxe luxury candy shop in downtown Konohagakure for the photo, and his gaze at the camera was steady and laidback: a typical cool guy feel.

Although it was a recent photograph, Sasuke felt the need to keep it for himself, as selfish as it was. He needed to see her everyday before setting out on his twisted paths in life.

His lips moved of its own accord, coming from the very main branch of his heart. His tone became firmer as he spoke. The longing to see her again - hug her again; _kiss _her again, was overwhelming. He really was going crazy.

"I'm going after her."

Itachi suppressed a wide grin, one very much unlike himself at his little brother's decision.

Sasuke, with an instant blazing determination, grabbed another book-sized picture of only Sakura from his cabinet, eyes downcast with the ghost of a smile, and stormed out of the room, snatching his leather jacket on the way.

"_Get out_ of my room, Itachi!"

The older Uchiha chuckled, shaking his head.

"Well. My job's done. Good luck, ice cube."

"I HEARD that!" Sasuke's distant shout frightened the pretty maid who arrived to clean up the soda bottle mess, face afraid.

Itachi acknowledged her presence by nodding. "Thanks, Misuke. And please book me a three o'clock flight to the city of lights after that, yes? I need a break."

"Y-yes, Itachi-san. Is the 'City of Lights' Paris?"

"Right you are. See you."

"Sayonara."

As Itachi swiftly left Sasuke's room, which was bigger than five king-sized beds put together, Misuke's skin reddened at the sight of a Playboy magazine peeking out from under a pair of her younger master's black skinny jeans.

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><p><strong>Ta-da. I'm so sorry nothing much happened in this chapter, but it was all I could work with, besides the only part of the plot I can give you for now. Hehe, Sasuke's a pervert O.O<strong>

**Or maybe it's just Naruto's.** **And please revieww! :3**

**Yama-chan**


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